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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24515431">waiting to welcome you home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisela/pseuds/elisela'>elisela</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>last kisses [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coming Out, Established Relationship, M/M, Pride</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:47:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24515431</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisela/pseuds/elisela</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Even if Eddie hadn’t thought he was the most attractive man he’s ever seen, how was he not supposed to fall in love with someone like Buck?</p><p>day 1: pride</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>last kisses [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771387</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>451</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>waiting to welcome you home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>last kiss before coming out ♥️</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eddie’s never been to Pride before.</p><p>His sexuality is not news to him; not born of pink lips, soft smiles, not created by the intimacy and bond he has with his partner, no matter what Buck likes to think. Eddie’s known he was bisexual since high school, since he realized what it meant when his mouth started watering at the sight of Isaac Conesa stripping his shirt off after baseball practice as much as it did when Marissa Reeves bent over in her cheerleading skirt. <em>Just because I never acted on it doesn’t mean I didn’t know</em>, he had told Buck. He knew perfectly well, he just—hid it. </p><p>From everybody.</p><p>And then Buck came around.</p><p>Even if Eddie hadn’t thought he was the most attractive man he’s ever seen, how was he not supposed to fall in love with someone like Buck?</p><p>Buck, with his smile and fond looks when he thought Eddie wasn’t watching, with his kindness and big heart, with the way he made them into a unit, into a <em>family</em> before Eddie ever realized what was happening. Buck, who put Eddie first time and time again, who loved Eddie’s son like he was his own, who anticipates his needs and meets them before Eddie’s ever said a word.</p><p>Buck, who had been keeping their relationship secret for the last four months because Eddie can’t get over his upbringing.</p><p>He knows it’s wrong, that he’s asked Buck to hide it, and the guilt—it’s immense. Buck insists he’s okay with it, that he’s happy to wait until Eddie has processed all his feelings and is ready to deal with the familial fall-out that being with someone of the same sex will entail, that he’ll wait for as long as Eddie needs. And that—that makes it <em>worse</em>, because it’s not only that he’s asking Buck to hide a fundamental part of himself, to hide who he loves, it’s that Buck is so willing to do it so easily. That he’s content to step back into the closet, to put on a show just so Eddie can feel comfortable.</p><p>He’s been working on it, in therapy, but it never feels like enough.</p><p>Pride is … different than he thought it would be. He’d expected a lot more nudity, and had told Buck so only to get a laugh in response. “This is a family friendly event, Eds,” Buck says, looking over and winking. “The nudity comes later.”</p><p>There are families everywhere he looks; signs that proclaim themselves proud mothers and fathers, proud sisters and brothers, proud grandparents. There are families that look like his; big groups speaking happily in Spanish, shirts proclaiming <em>amor es amor</em> (and one Buck points out, laughing as he brushes a shoulder against Eddie’s to get his attention—<em>¿por qué no los dos?</em> in the bisexual pride colors), sharing food and swaying their hips to latin beats. </p><p>Families that look like his—two men with their arms around each other, a little boy up on one of their shoulders, beaming and ducking down when someone walks by and drapes a beaded rainbow necklace around his neck. </p><p>The feeling of belonging, of <em>safety</em>, is swift and overwhelming; he stops suddenly, his heart thudding so painfully he can feel it in his throat. Everything around him coalesces until he stops seeing anything but the way the Buck’s hair shines in the bright sunlight, the way his shirt stretches across his broad shoulders, the bounce in his step, the way that love radiates from his face when he turns to look at Eddie.</p><p>“Stay here,” Eddie says, turning on his heel and raising a hand in acknowledgement when he hears Buck complain about already being late to meet their team. They’d passed a dozen merchandise booths on their way to where Hen had decided they’d meet, and he has no trouble finding one that suits his needs, no trouble pointing out the two shirts he wants, and he only hesitates for a second before asking for a third, a smaller shirt that says <em>proud kid</em> underneath a rainbow.</p><p>Chris had asked him for something, anyway, he rationalizes.</p><p>Buck is still standing where Eddie left him; he gives Eddie a bemused look but follows him out of the crowd and into the shade of a Jacaranda tree without a word, where he stands, watching, waiting.</p><p>He’d wait forever, Eddie thinks, and it’s the last push he needs. Shirts still clutched in one hand, he steps into Buck’s space and slides his free hand to the back of his neck, pulling him down into a kiss. There’s a hum of nerves running through his body, the ever-present knowledge that someone could see them—that someone <em>will</em> see them, here, out in the open—but for the first time he ignores it and presses his lips against Buck’s, grounds himself in the gentle way Buck kisses him back, lips parting open for Eddie’s easily.</p><p>“I’d say wow, but I don’t want your head to get any bigger,” Buck says a moment later, once they’ve parted, and Eddie can’t help but lean back in and kiss the smirk off his face. “What’s all that for?”</p><p>“That,” Eddie says, stepping back and separating one shirt from his collection, holding it out, “is the last time I’m kissing you in hiding.”</p><p>It sounds way more dramatic than he’d meant it to, but it’s not like he can take it back now, and Buck looks too stunned to make fun of him, anyway.</p><p>Buck shakes the shirt out and breathes his name quietly. “You—we don’t have to—I want you to be ready,” he says, settling his gaze on Eddie. “Just because we’re here, I’m not trying to pressure you, Hen invited everyone you know, they don’t need to know until you’re ready.”</p><p>He nods. “I’m ready,” he says, and, “well, almost—” he tosses the shirt he bought for Chris into Buck’s chest, reaches for the hem of what he’s wearing and strips it off, lets it fall to the ground while he pulls on the new one. He went simple; it’s never been his style to be loud, to want attention, so the plain white shirt with the column of pink, purple, and blue smudged lines felt like enough, felt like he was trying to be himself without trying to be someone he wasn’t.</p><p>“I got you the same one,” he says unnecessarily, given that Buck has already seen his own and is already shrugging his backpack off to change. “I hope that’s okay.”</p><p>“It’s perfect,” Buck says, tugging it on. He picks up his backpack, shoving both of their discarded shirts in before taking Chris’ and looking at it. “Does this mean you’re telling him?”</p><p>“We’re telling him tonight,” Eddie says. He waits until Buck’s ready, then reaches out and takes his hand, threading their fingers together between them. “But let’s go tell the team now.”</p><p>Eddie’s not exactly proud, not yet, but he’s a little bit closer with every radiant smile that Buck directs his way.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tumblr @ <a href="http://hearteyesforbuck.tumblr.com">hearteyesforbuck</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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